In general, the new rolling-mill stands for rolling both ferrous and non-ferrous metals must fulfill the following requirements: (a) the rolling force must be low; (b) the rolled products have close tolerances; (c) the energy requirements must be low; (d) the rolling operations must be free from any external disturbance; and (d) the capital cost must be low. To these ends, there have been devised and demonstrated various types of "rolling drawing processes". A typical example is the so-called "full winding rolling process" in which a strip of metal to be rolled is wrapped around the working rolls in the form of an S or an inverted S so that the strip can be rolled by the frictional forces developed between the strip and the working rolls. However, this process has some defects. Firstly, the threading of a strip of metal through the working rolls must be made manually so that the threading operation is very hazardous and tedious as well. Secondly, in the case of a strip of a relatively great thickness, it is impossible to manually thread it through the working rolls. Furthermore in the case of the replacement of the working rolls, the strip must be cut off.
In view of the above, the present invention has for its object to provide a device for automatically threading a strip of metal to be rolled through the working rolls in the form of a letter S or inverted S in a positive and safeguarded manner within a very short time period. The present invention will become more apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.